positive growth as required by contexts and circumstance Drawing on partnerships outside the Network such as governments, international agencies and professional organizations to expand the general frame of reference and maximize success Partners AKAM throughout the years has received support from numerous institutions all over the world. Support in this case is defined as the provision of funding and/or technical assistance. The following is a list of the international institutions and organizations which as of 2011 have supported AKAM: Agence Francaise de Dévéloppement Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation BlueOrchard Canadian International Development Agency DEG European Investment Bank European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) International Finance Corporation Japanese International Cooperation Agency Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) MicroFinanza Rating Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan Okiocredit PlaNet Finance Group Triple Jump The World Bank Group United States Department of Agriculture United States Agency for International Development Institutions worldwide Afghanistan The First MicroFinance Bank-Afghanistan was founded in 2003 and became one of the first banks to be under Afghanistan's legal framework on microfinance. FMFB-A opened its first branch in Kabul in May 2004 with KfW Banking Group and the International Finance Corporation as shareholders. The microfinance market was estimated at over 303,000 clients at the end of 2009, which is still only 18 percent of the two million households living under the poverty line in the country. FMFB-A is currently the largest microfinance institution in Afghanistan in terms of outstanding portfolio size with US$45.7 million in 2010 in microfinance loans compared to US$39.8 million in 2009. Of the total portfolio, 31 percent of the client base is rural. The institution's rural portfolio represents 13,490 loans disbursed valued at US$22 million. FMFB-A's, has a network of 45 branches, 17 of which are in rural areas, covering 14 provinces. Kyrgyzstan The First MicroCredit Company (FMCC), which was launched as a microfinance programme in 2003, was established in its present form as a microcredit company, in 2006. It is the largest microfinance provider in the southern region of the Kyrgyz Republic. Over 950,000 people, or 65 percent of the population, work in the agrarian sector and 44 percent of people in the Kyrgyz Republic work on family farms. The number of FMCC loans outstanding totalled over 11,980 at the end of 2009. This is a 21 percent increase over 2008. About 41 percent of beneficiaries of the loan portfolio were women. Adding together